New Government Should Safeguard Media Indenpendence

Jambi, Aug 27 (Antara) - The new government of Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, as the president and vice president of Indonesia, is expected to be able to foster media independence. "Jokowi (Joko Widodo) should ask the media to publish impartial news, although there are media houses owned by certain groups," stated Program Manager of SatuDunia Non-Profit Organization for people empowerment Anwari Natari. Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, will replace the current president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on October 20, 2014. Natari noted that Joko Widodo has benefited from media bias during his campaign period when he received extensive news coverage by a media group owned by a high-ranking official of a political party that supported him. Whoever becomes the president of Indonesia will face the same challenges related to media bias. "They are equally benefited by the media bias during the election campaign. This can be verified from the candidates` advertorial spending in the five cities as monitored by SatuDunia," Natari pointed. Both presidential candidates (Prabowo Subianto and Jokowi) had spent about Rp123.54 billion for mass media advertising through print, television, and radio in the five cities of Banjarmasin, Makassar, Medan, Surabaya, and Jakarta, according to SatuDunia. "From these observations, we can see that the media has the potential to dominate public discourse and perception through ads or biased news based on the media owner`s interests," Natari added. Moreover, Jokowi always insisted that anyone who supports his camp should be willing to help unconditionally, among others, and should not in return, demand for posts in the legislative. Therefore, the organization has called on the Indonesian people to urge Joko Widodo to maintain media independence. "SatuDunia believes that the new democratic Indonesia is not just a dream if everyone is working together to protect the freedom of speech, based on good and responsible media behavior," Natari emphasized.